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administrators, legislators, legislative and congressional staffers, Governor's
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officers, parent advocates, teacher leaders, business leaders, education
professors, members of the press and a broad array of P-16 regulatory agencies,
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PA Ed Policy Roundup for October
24, 2014:
New PDE Website to Provide
Opportunity for Public Input on Pennsylvania
ADVOCACY: Great seeing so many of you at
PSBA/PASA School Leadership Conference this week in Hershey! If you have not already done so, grab a
couple colleagues and be sure to signup as a PSBA Advocate at the PSBA booth in
the Aztec lobby next to the conference registration desk.
“I could never predict what I would get
from one year to the next,” retired Brentwood
superintendent Ron Dufalla said about subsidies handed out in multiple formulas
over the past 20 years. Dufalla, of
Lincoln, graduated in 1972 as part of the first class to spend three years at a
then-new Elizabeth
Forward High
School
Elizabeth Forward school
board hears money issues
Trib Live By Patrick Cloonan Thursday, Oct. 23, 2014, 3:06 a.m.
Money was an issue on multiple levels for Elizabeth Forward school board Wednesday, from high-tech labs to low-tech supplies to state funding. The board celebrated a $70,000 Chevron grant to further high-tech efforts at the middle school. “This grant is a real shot in the arm for us,” Superintendent Bart Rocco said. It's part of Chevron's $20 million Appalachia Partnership Initiative addressing education and workforce development in 27Pennsylvania ,
Ohio and West Virginia counties.
Money was an issue on multiple levels for Elizabeth Forward school board Wednesday, from high-tech labs to low-tech supplies to state funding. The board celebrated a $70,000 Chevron grant to further high-tech efforts at the middle school. “This grant is a real shot in the arm for us,” Superintendent Bart Rocco said. It's part of Chevron's $20 million Appalachia Partnership Initiative addressing education and workforce development in 27
Acting Secretary of Education
Announces Website to Provide Opportunity for Public Input on Pennsylvania
Standards
PDE Press Release October 23, 2014
Harrisburg – Acting Secretary of Education Carolyn Dumaresq today announced a website designed to provide the public with the opportunity to review and provide feedback on the Pennsylvania Standards. The site is available by visiting www.paacademicreview.org.
PDE Press Release October 23, 2014
Harrisburg – Acting Secretary of Education Carolyn Dumaresq today announced a website designed to provide the public with the opportunity to review and provide feedback on the Pennsylvania Standards. The site is available by visiting www.paacademicreview.org.
“Governor Corbett and I are focused on ensuring that students,
parents, educators and taxpayers have a comprehensive understanding of what is
expected of our students at each grade level,” Dumaresq said. “I
encourage the public to take the opportunity to visit this website, share their
thoughts and provide suggestions about the Pennsylvania Standards.”
The site is currently populated with the eligible content in
English language arts and mathematics for grade three. By mid-November,
the site will be updated to include the eligible content in English language
arts and mathematics for grades four to eight and Algebra I and Literature at
the secondary level. The website
includes interactive features that allow visitors to provide feedback and
suggestions as well as view sample questions from the state tests so they can
see examples of what is being presented to and asked of students.
Welcome to the Pennsylvania
Department of Education’s Eligible Content review site!
This site is designed with three goals in mind:
·
Increase awareness and understanding of our
state’s Eligible Content – the grade by grade statements that define what we
want our students to know and do.
·
Solicit actionable feedback on the Eligible
Content as part of the Pennsylvania Department of Education’s review process.
·
Provide PSSA/Keystone Exam sample questions for
English Language Arts/Literature and Mathematics/Algebra for each tested
grade/subject.*
Just like the city,
Harrisburg's city schools are finding their way back: Gene G. Veno
PennLive Op-Ed By Gene G. Veno on October 23, 2014 at
2:00 PM
Gene G. Veno is chief
recovery officer of the Harrisburg
City School
District
In his State of the City address, Harrisburg Mayor Eric
Papenfuse said he wants the city's children to have the same opportunities as
suburban students. As chief recovery
officer for Harrisburg
City School
District Harrisburg schools too are improving by
developing many educational programs in the elementary grades to help our
children matriculate with sound learning skills.
Students whose ACT exams were
lost in the mail will get retest
SUSAN SNYDER, INQUIRER
STAFF WRITER LAST UPDATED: Friday, October 24, 2014, 1:08 AM POSTED: Thursday,
October 23, 2014, 5:58 PM
The 182 students whose ACT exams, taken at Upper Darby High School Penn
Wood High
School
A statement from FACTS on the
role of charter schools in Philadelphia
Charters are a complement
to, not a substitute for, the public system, say trustees of one of city's most
successful charters.
the notebook commentary By Board of trustees and
administrative leaders of FACTS charter school on Oct 23, 2014 04:59 PM
Following is an abridged version of a statement issued by the
board of trustees and administrative leadership of the FACTS charter school.
Why we speak
As members of the Board of Trustees and the administrative leadership
of the Folk Arts Cultural Treasures Charter School (FACTS), we wish to add our
voice and our perspectives to this important discussion [about public education
and the District's current funding crisis], speaking out of FACTS’ experience
as a public charter school now in its 10th year of existence.
FACTS began in specific response to educational needs of Asian
immigrant children who were not being adequately served in Philadelphia by the public schools. It was
founded by community residents deeply committed to public education who had
struggled for many years previously on a number of fronts to remedy the overall
lack of public resources in Chinatown , and in
Asian communities more broadly.
Central Bucks West football
season the latest canceled because of hazing: Reports
Penn Live By Geoff Morrow | gmorrow@pennlive.com on October 23, 2014 6:10 p.m.
It's happened again. A
high school football season has been canceled by administrators after reports
of another hazing scandal. This time
it's Central Bucks West High School
First reported by Matt Coughlin of Calkins Media, with later reports coming
from crossingbroad.com and Philly.com, the Bucks' 2014 campaign is over after Central
Bucks Regional Police investigated allegations of extreme hazing, including
waterboarding-like behavior and touching of genitals through clothing. These alleged incidents occurred during
preseason and were first reported to administrators Oct. 14. After an internal
investigation, Central Bucks superintendent David Weitzel announced the
decision today to shut down the Bucks' season.
"The PARCC test takes nine to 11
hours, depending on a student’s grade level.
Her defiance was striking in a district
that has long been viewed as a national leader in test-based accountability. It
was also rich in symbolism because Chicago
Common Core revolt goes local
Politico By STEPHANIE SIMON | 10/23/14 5:00 PM EDT
School districts from New Hampshire to Oregon
Even as political leaders in both red and blue states continue
to back away from the standards — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is the latest
example — the hottest battles have shifted to the local level, where education
officials are staging public revolts against state and federal mandates to
administer Common Core exams. Chicago
Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett this week announced she did not want students in the nation’s
third-largest district to take the federally funded PARCC exam, which will
debut next spring in 11 states, including Illinois .
Byrd-Bennett called the test “unproven” and said adding such a
long exam to a year already crammed with standardized tests would be
overwhelming to students, teachers and principals.
"The move is the latest development in
a growing backlash across the country against the frequency and high-stakes
attached to testing, as well as the amount of teaching time lost to
administering exams."
Miami-Dade students to get
break from some tests
BY CHRISTINA VEIGA CVEIGA@MIAMIHERALD.COM
10/22/2014 6:46 PM
Students in Miami-Dade will take fewer tests this year after
the district decided on Wednesday to cancel one set of interim assessments. Along with other changes to the testing
calendar, it means students will now spend up to 260 more minutes learning —
rather than taking tests, according to district Superintendent Alberto
Carvalho. “It’s a win for teacher and
it’s a win for students,” he said. The
move is the latest development in a growing backlash across the country against
the frequency and high-stakes attached to testing, as well as the amount of
teaching time lost to administering exams.
The change announced Wednesday means students will no longer take two
sets of interim exams. The tests were developed to comply with state
requirements to track student progress — but only one round of the scores were
actually used for the data.
Carvalho recently challenged the state to look at its own
schedules to get rid of duplicative tests. Then, he took his own advice.
VIRTUAL SCHOOLS EXPERIMENT
GONE AWRY WITH K12 INC.
Cashing In On Kids website October 23, 2014
The for-profit, publicly traded, virtual charter school
operator, K12 Inc. (NYSE: LRN), is on probation for poor academic achievement and failure
to meet state standards in Massachusetts
in Massachusetts
by the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Not only is academic performance a major issue, but the state Education Board is also reviewing affiliated companies that assist in hiring and evaluating teachers as the experiment in virtual education continues to be questioned. The quality of K12'S vendors and partnering companies is also called into question since they also receive public money. K12, INC'S online school inGreenfield , a western Massachusetts town, draws students from over
170 districts and receives per-pupil funding from the home district. This means
that the school is operating on a $5.8 million budget, yet has only 10.5 employees.
Not only is academic performance a major issue, but the state Education Board is also reviewing affiliated companies that assist in hiring and evaluating teachers as the experiment in virtual education continues to be questioned. The quality of K12'S vendors and partnering companies is also called into question since they also receive public money. K12, INC'S online school in
New video highlights public
education successes from "Stand Up 4 Public Schools"
NSBA website October 23, 2014
Watch the new video "I
Stand Up 4 Public Schools" featuring television
personality and "Stand Up 4 Public Schools" celebrity advocate
Montel Williams. The National School
Boards Association’s national campaign, “Stand Up 4 Public Schools” highlights the achievements of America ’s
public schools and gives a voice to citizens who say “Who I am today began with
public education.”
- See more at: http://www.nsba.org/newsroom/new-video-highlights-public-education-successes-stand-4-public-schools#sthash.82JIjokM.dpuf
New website offers closer
look into candidate' views on public education
PSBA NEWS RELEASE 10/6/2014
The Pennsylvania School Boards Association (PSBA) has created a
new website for its members and the general public to get a closer look into
candidates' views on public education leading up to the 2014 election for the
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Following
the primary elections, PSBA sent out a six-question questionnaire to all
Pennsylvania House and Senate candidates competing for seats in the November
election. Candidates are listed by
House, Senate seat and county. Districts can be found by visiting the 'Find My
Legislator' link (http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/findyourlegislator/).
Features include:
·
Candidate images, if provided
·
Candidates are tagged by political party and
seat for which they are running
·
Candidates who did not respond are indicated by
"Responses not available."
Visit the site by going to
http://psbacandidateforum.wordpress.com/ or by clicking on the link tweeted out
by @PSBAadvocate.
Candidates wishing to complete the questionnaire before
election day may do so by contacting Sean
Crampsie (717-506-2450, x-3321).
- See more at: http://www.psba.org/news-publications/headlines/details.asp?id=8650#sthash.1vGGRff4.dpuf
Children with Autism - Who’s
Eligible? How to get ABA
Wednesday, November 19, 2014 1:00 – 4:00 P.M.
United Way Building 1709
Benjamin Franklin Parkway , Philadelphia
Join us on November 19th, 2014 to discuss eligibility services for children with Autism. This
session will teach parents, teachers, social workers and attorneys how to
obtain Applied Behavioral Analysis services for children on the autism
spectrum. Presenters include Sonja Kerr (Law
Center ), Rachel Mann (Disability
Rights Network of Pennsylvania), Dr. Lisa Blaskey (The Children's Hospital of Pennsylvania
Register Now – 2014 PASCD
Annual Conference – November 23 – 25, 2014
Please join us for the 2014 PASCD Annual Conference, “Leading
an Innovative Culture for Learning – Powered by Blendedschools Network” to
be held November 23-25 at the Hershey Lodge and Convention Center in Hershey , PA.
This annual conference features small group sessions (focused
on curriculum, instructional, assessment, blended learning and middle level
education) is a great opportunity to stay connected to the latest approaches
for cultural change in your school or district. Join us for PASCD
2014! Online registration is available by visiting www.pascd.org
Upcoming PA Basic Education
Funding Commission Meetings*
PA Basic Education Funding
Commission website
Thursday, November 6, 2014 at 10
AM, Lancaster
Tuesday, November 18 & 19, 2014, Philadelphia
Thursday, December 4, 2014 at 10 AM, East Stroudsburg
Wednesday, December 10, 2014, 10 AM - 12:00 PM, Lancaster
* meeting times and locations subject to changehttp://basiceducationfundingcommission.pasenategop.com/
Tuesday, November 18 & 19, 2014, Philadelphia
Thursday, December 4, 2014 at 10 AM, East Stroudsburg
Wednesday, December 10, 2014, 10 AM - 12:00 PM, Lancaster
* meeting times and locations subject to changehttp://basiceducationfundingcommission.pasenategop.com/
January 23rd–25th, 2015 at The Science Leadership
Academy , Philadelphia
EduCon is both a conversation and a conference.
It is an innovation conference where we can come together, both
in person and virtually, to discuss the future of schools. Every session will
be an opportunity to discuss and debate ideas — from the very practical to the
big dreams.
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